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For anyone that has been injured (if you haven’t keep doing what you’re doing!) for any amount of time…you know the frustration of not being able to do your sport. I think the hardest thing is working hard to achieve a level of fitness and then having to put the training on hold. The tough thing for me, with my ailment being my knee, is that I need to refrain from biking, running and even eliptical, so, I’m reduced to walking, swimming and weights.

The one thing that time off is giving me is the ability to work on drills and stretching more (which I should be doing religiously anyway). One thing I learned in Matt Fitzgerald’s book “Brain Training for Runners” is how important it is to correct muscle imbalances caused by sitting. (more on this later)

I had a great swim on Monday. Swam 1200 meters total. And I got my lap times down to 23-25 seconds. I still have a lot of work to do on my technique, and a coach, or at least an observer will be needed to get faster. I’m going to have a friend video tape me next time I go.

Today is Tuesday and the knee feels great. It never really hurt, but I think the time off of no running or biking has helped it. It is popping a lot less frequently and doesn’t feel “loose” anymore. I did a 3.5 mile walk around the park loop that I usually run. It was tough not to break into a run since everyone around me was running. I actually snuck in a few drills and a short jog at the end….I HAD TO!! I feel like I’m tapering with no race coming up. All this energy and nowhere to put it.

Like this:

Last big workout of training. 35min easy, 15 min tempo, and repeat, 35 min easy, 15 min tempo. Felt great leaving my apartment, but about 10 min into easy portion the top of my foot started feeling very sore, like my shoe was pinching. After some adjustment and then more adjustment I was able to run with minimal discomfort and it eventually went away. Maybe it warmed up or maybe it became numb…I got the run in and ice bath came immediately after, back at my apartment.

It was a little nerve-racking to still have this lingering soreness, not to mention the sore groin still there. My rational is this is the last real long solid tempo and I wanted to get it in. From here on out until Nov 1st is the taper. I am running the last 12 miles of the course this weekend, but that is all easy pace. And there are a few more tempos coming up, but much less total time in the workout.

I am fully confident that I can recuperate the groin and foot issues to 100% health by Nov 1st during my taper.

My feeling is there is a fine line of pushing yourself to the edge during training, but if you go over injury, season ending injury can result. These aches are minor to me, so I think that I have learned how to listen to my body over the years of trial and error.